In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. Each year, The Academy invites friends and colleagues of Special Merit Awards recipients to pay tribute to the honorees' career accomplishments, while also adding colorful anecdotes and personal accounts. In the days leading up to the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 12 Special Merit Awards recipients for 2011.

Julie and I met for the first time in 1960, when mutual friends of ours brought Julie to see me in an off-Broadway show I was doing, "Once Upon A Mattress." She had already done "My Fair Lady," and I was pretty much in awe. After the show that night, we all went to a restaurant where we had Chinese and those poor guys who were with us didn't have a prayer. Julie and I never stopped yapping. It was as if I had found my long-lost twin, and some evil being had stolen her at birth and stuck her over there, somewhere in England. That evening kicked off what was to be (so far) a 50-year relationship…professional, and best of all…personal.

We did our first television special in 1962. We began calling each other "Chum." During our rehearsal breaks, we talked about the men in our lives and our careers and our futures.

In the '70s, we did another special, and during our rehearsal breaks we talked about our husbands, our children and schools.

Then we got together for yet another special in the '80s, and during those rehearsal breaks we talked about hot flashes, hormones and "vit"-amins.

If we ever do another one, we'll most likely be delving into the mysteries of Metamucil.

Julie has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, she won a GRAMMY in 1964 for her work in the classic Mary Poppins (for which she also won a best actress Oscar), and she has won three Tony Awards. She has earned her renown as a singer, actress and one of the greatest all-around entertainers with whom I've had the pleasure of working. In addition to Mary Poppins, her classic works include The Sound Of Music and Victor Victoria, both of which she made her own on film and on Broadway.

This Life Achievement Award is so very much deserved. Julie has constantly given us her all. And her "all" is awe-inspiring. Her talent is unsurpassed. She's a consummate actress, and her voice is a gift from the gods. She is a great "Dame" in every good sense of the word.

Congratulations, Chum.

(Entertainer Carol Burnett won an Emmy Award in 1963 for her performance in "Julie And Carol At Carnegie Hall." Her hit variety show, "The Carol Burnett Show," ran from 1967–1978. She earned her first GRAMMY nomination this year in the Best Spoken Word category for This Time Together: Laughter And Reflection.)

The Lifetime Achievement Award, established in 1962, is presented by vote of The Recording Academy’s National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. To view a complete list of Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, click here.

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